The End in Sight

Grüß Gott!  Now that I've been in Austria for....eight weeks (wow how time has flown!), I think it's time to begin my blog post with Vienna's customary greeting.  This phrase is used to say hello to anyone and everyone: people behind counters in shops, waiters in restaurants, people on the street.  And that's about the extent of my German.  Haha.  Not completely true - I've learned a little but of vocabulary (mostly related to food, but what else would expect?)

So it has been almost three weeks since my last blog post, and frankly I'm not so sure what to write about!  Our schedule has slowed up a little bit, and in our free days in Vienna we have had lots of time to explore the city and do all of the touristy things that we have been ignoring over the past two months.  No big trips or epic excursions, and unfortunately most of the touristy things I have done were places that forbade pictures.  So many of the pictures below are of food.  A word of caution: you probably shouldn't continue reading on an empty stomach.  Consider yourself warned :)

Anyway, now to recount the things that I've done.  After we got back from Prague, things went pretty much back to normal with concerts, history work, and practicing.  That Thursday, though, we took an excursion to St. Florian and Steyr, two places in Upper Austria.  St. Florian is an old abbey quite like Melk (see my post from Week 1) where Bruckner had lived and worked for years (and where he's buried underneath his organ), and Steyr is a town close by where Bruckner and Schubert often visited.

This is Bruckner.

This is Bruckner's organ.

And this is chicken cordon bleu!

 Our next big tourist event was that weekend, when Shannon, Remy, his sister Anne Caroline (who was visiting from Swaziland), and myself toured Schönbrunn, the summer palace of the Hapsburgs.  It was a magnificent building, on the level of Versailles in Paris, with history dating back to Maria Theresa in the 1700s.  What was coolest, though, was that renovation work was being done on one of the main rooms, and it was halfway done.  So you could see almost a before and after effect split down the center of the room.

Schönbrunn - the summer palace of the Hapsburgs

The pretzel was larger than my head.

Me, Remy, and Shannon at Schönbrunn.

We've also amped up our pastry and sweet (and occasionally real food) tour of the city as the final departure date looms.  Of course, these antics will be described in great details by the pictures below, so I think I'll just leave it at that.

A pastry called buchteln.  They're served piping hot from the ovens from this one cafe in Vienna every night at 10 PM.....and only at 10 PM.

Buchteln - sweet rolls filled with plum jam and dusted with powdered sugar.

Kaiserschmarrn.  Torn up pancakes served with powdered sugar, raisins, and a plum compote.

The next week we toured Sigmund Freud's office in Vienna where he lived and worked for most of his life until he was forced to emigrate to the United Kingdom during WWII.  Consequently most of his belongings (including the couch) are in London, but it was still cool to see such a historical place.  Later that week we saw a production of Die Fledermaus at the Volksoper.  This operetta is distinctly tied to Vienna, for it is performed every year around January 1, and it was a wonderful experience to see and hear.  Especially the older gentleman who threw up about two rows in front of us.

Freud's office.

Freud's waiting room.

These had to be some of the best sundaes ever, from Castelletto's in the First District.

We traveled to the Alte Donau island in the middle of the Danube River that runs right through the city on a particularly nice day two weeks ago.  The water was freezing, though, but nonetheless I can say that I have set foot in the Danube.  And then I found (and picked) reed rush growing on the river bank.  (For those of you nonclarinetists: reed rush is an abrasive grass used for clarinet reed work.)

The next big thing that we did in Vienna was tour the catacombs underneath Stephansdom.  We traveled down into the depths of Vienna, seeing ancient tunnels.  We saw the burial urns of the Hapsburg emperors whose entrails, hearts, and other organs were jarred and stored in various churches around the city - gives new meaning to spreading the wealth.   Then we traveled even further underground to an older part of the catacombs where we saw just pits and pits of bones, many of them remaining untouched since they were dumped there during the Black Plague during the 1300s.

This past weekend, the weather was beautiful so we walked around the city a bit and then traveled as a group to the Prater amusement park in the center of the city.  Being the wuss that I am, I was appointed the official photographer (yes, I did go on a few things, but nothing that would impress anyone so they're not even worth listing).  The next day, Shannon and I attended the most wonderful concert by the Vienna Philharmonic.  Wiener Philharmoniker tickets are sold by subscription only, so due to this we were only scheduled to see them once as a part of the FSP.  But Shannon and I were determined to see one of the world's best orchestras again, so we waited in line early one morning a week before the concert to see if any subscription tickets had been returned; we got lucky and bought two seats behind the orchestra in the organ loft.  We couldn't see a thing, but we didn't have to.  Their performance of Beethoven 3 "Eroica" was simply breathtaking.

Shannon, Anna, Danielle, and Amy on some crazy roller coaster at the Prater amusement park in the center of Vienna.

Wiener Philharmoniker offices!

The original sacher torte at the Café Sacher.  There's a reason it's the original - the best one yet.

Vienna Philharmonic concert - from our seats behind the orchestra in the organ balcony.

Our new favorite gelato shop!  Right next door to the place where we got the sundaes.

Today Shannon and I traveled to the University of the Arts in Vienna to hear another clarinet studio recital by students our age.  We had heard another recital during the second week of our program (I probably blogged about it....not sure though...), and we were really excited to attend another one.  Needless to say it was great.  Before that we went out to a lovely little Italian restaurant here in Vienna.  Since we're so close to Northern Italy, the Italian food is simply outstanding.  NOTE: Mother, I am eating food other than sweets and sugar.

Mushroom pizza at a wonderful Italian restaurant.

Crispy cannelloni with asparagus, ricotta, sun dried tomatoes served with a goat cheese cream sauce and olives. 

A white chocolate panna cotta served with strawberry and rhubarb compotes and streusel crumbs.

Today we visited the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum at the Arsenal (Vienna Military History Museum) where I got to see the car Franz Ferdinand was riding in when he was shot in Sarajevo in 1914 (starting WWI) and the clothes - complete with bullet holes - that he was wearing.  Pictures to come next blog post....I'm not near my camera.  Up next is a weekend trip to Budapest and more pastries and gelato!

Before we go, though, I need to direct your attention to this lovely video we made in front of the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera) for someone back at Dartmouth.